Rafael Pastor has an extensive and diversified track record in both running successful businesses and advising business leaders. His career has spanned the media/entertainment, education, and business/financial services sectors, and he now serves on a variety of boards and as an advisor.

From 2004 to 2013, Pastor was chairman of the board and CEO of Vistage International, the world’s largest for-profit CEO membership company (which he co-owned with Larry Ellison, Michael Milken, and Thomson Reuters).

Previously, based in New York, he held these positions at global media companies: CEO of Hoyts Cinemas Corp.; president of USA Networks International; executive vice president, International, of News Corp. and Fox Television International (reporting to Rupert Murdoch); and president of CBS/Fox Video International. Subsequently, he was co-founder and co-chairman of the Sonenshine Pastor (now Sonenshine Partners), an investment banking firm in New York City.

Currently, Pastor serves as an advisor to a major international private equity firm. He also serves on the boards of directors of KinderCare Education, Rosetta Books, Ensight, and Experience Investment Corp., as well as on the advisory boards of Julius, Thuzio, and MD Revolution.

Pastor is also engaged with not-for-profit organizations, including as chairman of the International Advisory Board of UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy; trustee of the UC San Diego Foundation; member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego; and board member of the NACD Pacific Southwest Chapter.

Pastor started his career as an attorney, first at the Wall Street law firm of Hawkins, Delafield, and Wood and then as associate general counsel at CBS Inc. He earned a BA from Columbia University and a JD from NYU School of Law. He was born in Israel to Hungarian parents and speaks several languages. He and his wife, Marina, reside in Rancho Santa Fe, California.